Drought andDesertification

Below is a checklist of Drought and desertification postal items (stamps, souvenir sheets, aerogrammes, postal cards, etc.). Catalog numbers, years of issue, and notes on the items featured are given when available. If readers know of additional information or images, please contact the authors using the e-mail addresses at the bottom of this page.

A significant drought began in Romania in 1945 and continued for several years, leading to famine in parts of the country in 1947. These stamps mention "Helping the Hungry and Social Assistance" in the context of that drought and famine

Parched and cracked ground (in drought); 30th anniv. MISEREOR (German Catholic Bishops' Organization for Development Cooperation) and "Bread for the World" Agencies, which are "active wherever there is drought, poverty and need" (in German text in the souvenir card)

The "Sri Sathya Sai Drinking Water Supply Project (SSSDWSP) was undertaken by Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust in one of the most chronically drought-prone regions, namely, Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh" (in folder text)

Text in the stamps, including the phrase "Of droughts and flooding rains", is from the poem My Country by Australian poet Dorothea Mackellar, whose birth centenary was in 1985 (the year of issue of the stamps)

(Ono no) Komachi Praying for Rain; (This Japanese woodblock painting recalls a time when the country was suffering from a severe and prolonged drought, in which only Komachi's intercession was able to bring back the rain. See also Japan 2934.)

1Deserts are natural ecosystems, but desertification is a global problem. The 58th session of the UN General Assembly declared 2006 to be the International Year of Deserts and Desertification (IYDD). The objective of the Year was to emphasize that desertification is a major threat to mankind and to raise awareness of the principal factors related to desertification: climate change, the loss of biodiversity, and human influences.
2WED: World Environmental Day
3The authors of this website have been unable to find any documentation related to the "Sécheresse-Solidarité" overprints. They were probably issued to draw attention to the trans-national aspect of the problem of drought in Africa, and possibly to contribute to a fund for African drought relief. However, it is not known whether or not the money obtained from the sale of these stamps actually did end up in any such fund.
4World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) (annually: 17 June): sponsored by the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), first observed in 1995.
5The Sahel is a semi-arid transition region that extends across Africa between the Sahara to the north and the wetter regions of equatorial Africa to the south. It is an ecologically vulnerable area. After years of above average rainfall, a drought came to the Sahel in the late 1960s. It marked the beginning of a generally dry period in the region. The Sahel drought was one of the factors that led to the establishment of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertifiction (UNCCD). Research has shown that rainfall variability is a major element in the environmental problems of the area, but that human influences also play a large role in the degradation of the land.
6This image shows the drying out of the Aral Sea between the years 2000 and 2014.

The table below is a Summary (by year of issue and WDCD ordinal number) of the World Day to Combat Desertification (WDCD) postal items listed in the WDCD table above. Included are the number of countries issuing WDCD items, as well as the number of WDCD items that were issued. WDCD themes and slogans are also provided. This summary is also available in spreadsheet form.